SheSays Central PA is a new organization devoted to empowering women in the workplace by educating them on how to craft their own personal brand, offering network opportunities, sharing job news and providing educational experiences.

The group - which is the first Pennsylvania chapter of international organization SheSays - has already held two free events in the midstate. The first was a lecture on how to brand yourself by Tracy Mason, senior director of public affairs at Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington D.C. The second was a presentation by writer/director Addie Manis, who screened her most recent film "Time Out of Mind" and also talked about her work as a visual effects producer for "Game of Thrones" and "Hunger Games."

The next event - "Decoding the Blogosphere" - is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. April 25 and will feature midstate bloggers Sara Bozich (who is also a PennLive columnist) and Katherine McAdoo talking about the how to's of bloggging: how to get started, spread the word, make money and engage readers. Held at JPL in Swatara Twp., the event is free to the public.

View full sizeKaren Roland, Kerry Mullen and Julie Bancroft are the founders of the central Pennsylvania chapter of SheSays.Brian Peace

While SheSays PA now has more than 50 members, it all began with three friends and colleagues.

Julie Bancroft of Harrisburg had attended a lecture in California where Alessandra Lariu was the speaker. Lariu is the founder of SheSays, an organization devoted to empowering women in the workplace. Everything she said resonated with Bancroft.

"It was all about having a seat at the table," Bancroft recalled. When she returned home, she told her colleagues at kake Collaborative, a midstate marketing agency, all about SheSays. The three of them - Bancroft, Kerry Mullen of Susquehanna Twp. and Karen Roland of Hampden Twp.- decided to create their own chapter and petitioned SheSays for permission.

"Frankly, I'm shocked they allowed us to do it in Central PA," Bancroft said. "It's in major cities: Melbourne, Singapore, Chicago-"

"And then there's us," Mullen interrupted. "We do have Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Lancaster, York - the whole region. So we have bigger plans to expand, but we need to get this started [in Harrisburg.]"

The group is already pleased with the response, although it is always hoping to grow. "There's certainly appetite here because people wouldn't be coming if there wasn't," Mullen said.

SheSays Central PA also addresses a need of women in the creative industries.

"When you get further and further up [in the professional world] there are less and less women the further up you move," Mullen said. SheSays seeks to provide women the skills to help those numbers grow.

Part of that will be accomplished by mentoring younger women and students.

While an official mentoring program has yet to be unrolled - the group hopes to lay out more concrete plans about helping college students with crafting resumes and making the transition from student to employee by next spring - students are already reaping benefits of the organization by attending events.

"I learned a lot tonight," said Lauren Lightfoot, a junior at Boiling Springs High School, after the Addie Manis lecture. She had already said she planned to keep coming to SheSays events. "I'm hoping I will continue to learn."

One of Manis' key points had been the importance of networking and it was a message Lightfoot had taken to heart. "[Manis] talked about how everything is knowing people and, coming to these events, I'm meeting people."

When the mentorship program does begin, it will be more than just the hard skills of resume preparation. It will also be a chance for students to see what it really is like to be a woman in the workforce.

"I know as a college student I really didn't believe there were gender issues," Bancroft said. "I remember being a student and thinking 'I work hard, I'm creative, I've done a lot to put myself at the top.' I never imagined that being a woman would make my career different than my male counterparts, that it would be more of a struggle or that I would have to work harder and talk louder."

"It took me a good decade [after college] to realize that you have to work harder to be taken at the same level of seriousness for your talents and capabilities," Roland said. "I wish I had someone to tell me that."

That being said, SheSays Central PA is hesitant about labeling itself a feminist organization. "I think what's important is we're never turning men away," Bancroft said. "Men are an important part of a woman's career."

Roland seconded the opinion. "When I look back at how I got to where I got to in my career, it's because I had two amazing men who were critical leaders in my life," she said. "They took a chance on me, they pushed me further than I thought I could go. When I look back, that wasn't the majority [of men], unfortunately."

Men play a part in SheSays Central PA - in fact, the Addie Manis event had a largely male audience, many of who did not even know that it was a "women's event."

Male attendance at events is fine with Bancroft. "It's not like we don't want men to participate," she said. "But we have women presenting because I think it's important to give them that platform to show leadership in their community and their profession."

Joining SheSays Central PA is easy. Go online to www.weareshesays.com and enter you name and email and select CentralPA as your city in the Join Us form. There are no membership fees.

The local chapter is funded through sponsors, including PSECU, and helps put on events through donations - JPL, for instance, donated the use of its building for the blogging event April 25. The organization is still actively seeking sponsors to help fund future endeavors.